ASIC hails funding passage, AIST wary
The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) has expressed disappointment at certain elements of the new Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) funding model, even as the corporate regulator hailed it as the “dawn of a new regulatory era”.
AIST senior policy adviser, Karen Volpato said: “We remain disappointed that the establishment of a statutory levy – as part of the new model – is not compliant with the Government’s own cost recovery guidelines.
“The statutory levy may mean that funds will need to pay for items that were not previously leviable.”
However, the body did welcome the increased transparency in how ASIC was funded that would result from the introduction of the levy.
ASIC itself welcomed the passage of the ASIC Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Bill 2017 and related bills through the Senate yesterday, with chair, Greg Medcraft stating it enjoyed support across the political spectrum.
“Industry funding, in one form or another, applies to other areas of public oversight in Australia and in many comparable economies around the world,” Medcraft said.
“Not only will the different elements of the broad business sector more fairly share the load, but the taxpaying public will benefit through the more accountable use of the funds provided for the task.”
Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer said yesterday regulations that provided additional detail on the operation of the industry funding model would be made available shortly, after the model comes into effect on 1 July, 2017.
The model was in addition to other measures, including reviews of ASIC’s capabilities and enforcement regime to ensure it had powers and penalties to deter misconduct, as well as the $127.2 million funding package to fund data analytics and surveillance capabilities.
The industry funding model was initiated by the Federal Government in April 2016 with the aim of funding ASIC by those who create the need for and benefit from regulation, and was subject to stakeholder consultation.
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